In celebration of World Meteorological Day last March 23, Senator Loren Legarda urged public and private sector leaders to support initiatives and technologies that can harness the power from the sun, as an alternative and renewable source of energy, in order to limit global warming and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience, said that the event, which carried the theme “The Sun, the Earth, and the Weather” for this year, commemorated the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the contribution of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in monitoring the Earth system in order to deliver daily weather forecasts and advise policymakers on climate variability and change.

“We have immense access to the power from the sun, but we are not utilizing its energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. We have seen solar energy initiatives from other countries and even in some parts of our cities and communities, but we need to push this further in order to allow cleaner and cheaper energy to dominate our power mix,” Legarda said.

Legarda expressed that, according to the WMO, the Sun’s energy output has not increased and that long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere drive the increase in global temperatures, which are melting ice and heating our oceans and causing climate change that puts at risk public health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth.

She also mentioned that countries have committed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to below 1.5°C through the Paris Agreement, but at the rate of emissions from greenhouse gas, global temperature is expected to rise to 3°C to 5 °C by 2100.

Legarda noted that the country already has the laws and strategies in place to promote and pursue cleaner sources of energy, but that greater participation from the private sector and stakeholders is needed to fully implement them and realize the country’s potential for renewable energy development.

“Harnessing solar energy and other cleaner and renewable sources of energy is our only recourse to limit global warming and mitigate climate change impacts. The government must further collaborate with the private sector to accelerate low carbon investments, innovations, and technologies towards a sustainable future for the country and the world,” Legarda said. – Office of Sen. Loren Legarda, Senate of the Philippines